3. Based on consultations with stakeholders on the “Draft Circular – Rationalisation of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for Debit Card Transactions”, as also taking into account the twin objectives of promoting debit card acceptance by a wider set of merchants, especially small merchants, and ensuring sustainability of the business for the entities involved, it has been decided to rationalise the MDR for debit cards based on the following criteria:

Categorisation of merchants on the basis of turnover.

Adoption of a differentiated MDR for QR-code based transactions.

Specifying a ceiling on the maximum permissible MDR for both ‘card present’ and ‘card not present’ transactions.

4. Accordingly, the maximum MDR for debit card transactions shall be as under: